Star Wars Episode VII–Disneyfied

Looks like Star Wars Episode VII will be out next year, what do you think about it. Is the story continuing or will it go off a tangent. I am thinking it will be as bad as Episode I.

Carrie Fisher and Warwick Davis

A Star Wars behind the scenes photo. Carrie Fisher and Warwick Davis (Ewok Wicket) on the set of Return of the Jedi behind the scenes. Warwick Davis was 11 years old when he did the Star Wars movie. He was originally cast as an extra Ewok, but Kenny Baker, who was originally going to be Wicket, fell ill, George Lucas picked Davis to be the new Wicket after seeing how he carried himself as an Ewok.

This photo was taken at the set showing Jabba The Hutt (looks like they are sitting on him) and Pricess Leia in a bikini when she was his slave.

Fun Fact - Warwick Ashley Davis was born on the 3rd February 1970. He played the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, Ewok Wicket in Star Wars Return of the Jedi and Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter films. Davis was also in the funny TV series Life's Too Short and An Idiot Abroad , written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Every Star Wars Actor in One Photo

This is a pretty cool Star Wars photo isn’t it? I think it would have to have every single major actor from all the Star Wars movies that have been made.

I guess as with the newer movies most acting is CGI and green screen isn’t it?

All Star Wars actors in one photo

This is a pretty good behind the scenes Star Wars photo showing all the main actors from all the Star Wars movies made plus George Lucas holding a Yoda puppet.

Jar Jar Binks, like most Gungans, was skinny, lanky and had big frills behind his head. He was exiled from Otoh Gunga for repeatedly making blunders that placed other Gungan members in danger, including crashing Boss Nass’ heyblibber, swamping Boss Nass’s mansion while standing-in as a caterer, and opening the bubbles of the creatures in Otoh Gunga’s zoo.

Jar Jar was eating clams and drifting around the marshlands of Naboo when the Trade Federation began landing its assault force. He was saved by Qui-Gon Jinn, who rescued Jar Jar from added disciplinary action by demanding a life-debt on him. Boss Nass was hesitant to relinquish the chance to penalize Jar Jar, but was forced to comply with the life debt. Jar Jar then travelled with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi, aiding in protecting Queen Amidala throughout her skirmish with the Federation.

Jar Jar’s relationship with Queen Amidala led to a better relationship when she asked Boss Nass for support in the Battle of Naboo. Boss Nass attributed Jar Jar with getting the Gungans and humans together in peace, and was promoted to the rank of General for his hard work. Jar Jar Binks was acted by Ahmad Best in the movie Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

How to make Princess Leia bikini, slave Leia, Jabbas prisoner costume

A little about the costume first. I have read that Carrie Fisher said that her costumes in the first 2 Star Wars movies were so long that people couldn’t tell if she was a woman. Well, the scanty outfit she wore in Return of the Jedi changed that. The Leia bikini was created by Aggie Guerard Rodgers. The costume department made a mold of Carrie Fisher's body so they could do a custom fit and they made forms of the slave bikini to suit different scenes in the movie. One was a hard metal one that she wore when she was not undertaking any stunts and one was made of formed rubber and lined with leather so it would be a bit more comfortable when doing stunts.

Anyway – How to make a Star Wars Princess Leia Metal Bikini

Put on your favourite cute bra then wrap your chest and shoulders in plastic wrap but not tight so it doesn’t flatten your chest, then use cotton cloth strips and watered down PVA glue as a cloth version of papier mache – I guess cloth mache. Get someone to help you as you can’t glue and stand still at the same time. Work fast as it dries fairly quickly.

When it goes hard you'll have a realistic cast of your breasts and chest area. Use a marker pen to make lines where you will build up on the bra with paper clay (you can get it at art shops - it's like a premade papier mache like soft clay) to mould up the raised metal patterns on the bra. Once it's all dry take it off and seal it all over with PVA then paint in metallic paint etc so it looks the part.

The bottom plate you make the same way and then finish it off by sticking two long strips of red, stretchy fabric to it. The strips should be wide enough to cover the insides of the thighs, about 250mm wide The strips should hang from the front and back of the bikini bottom down to the floor. Straps to hold it all together can be made from leather.

For the headpiece, once again, mold one using paper clay on a piece of cardboard.

 

Death Star, too big to fail

Death Star, too big to fail. They said that for the Titanic as well didn’t they?

Darth Vader and Irvin Kershner

Here is a behind the scenes Star Wars photo of Irvin Kershner the director of Star Wars V -Empire Strikes Back probably my favourite Star Wars movie (toss up between this and the first Episode IV) in a candid moment with Darth Vader.

As I mentioned above, Irvin Kershner was the director of the great Star Wars movie Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (after almost turning it down). But what other great movies has he directed – Well none that I know of.

He has directed a few crappy ones though. Never Say Never – the poor James Bond 007 movie where Sean Connery returned after George Lazenby got dumped (I thought George was a great James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969). Never Say Never was terrible – bad acting and bad story. Another movie Kershner directed was Robocop2 – Robocop was a great movie, full on and had an R rating because of the violence, the sequel was terrible and was like school kids tried to copy the first one.

Star Wars IV Carrie Fisher Behind the Scenes Photo

A nice photo of Carrie Fisher posing for the camera while filming Star Wars Episode IV – The original and best Star Wars movie I think.

Other people had auditioned to be the famous Princess Leia and one that you can see on youtube, apart from Carrie Fishers audition, is Cindy Williams (the co – star of Laverne and Shirley, the 70’s sit com). I wonder if she would have made a good princess. Gee , her life would have changed if she got the part.

Here is the Cindy Williams audition for Star Wars in the role of Princess Leia Organa.

George Lucas , then and now

Well, I guess it is not just George Lucas but just about every film maker – take Avatar for example, it would be mostly green screen. But the good old days had actually actors and models and they looked great. The newer Star Wars movies and the reissues of the originals , to me, just looked a bit to computery for me. Anyone agree?

Did you know that George Lucas showed the cartoon movie Duck Dodgers in the Twenty-fourth and a half Century to all the cast and crew before the 1977 screening of the first Star Wars to them.

Rarest genuine Revenge of the Jedi Star Wars movie poster

This is pretty good, isn’t it? The story goes that the name Revenge of the Jedi was used for the movie Return of the Jedi used by the Lucasfilm company to try and fool the media and press but movie studio Twentieth-Century Fox picked up the name to promote the movie, well before Goege Lucas gave them the permission.

Another story is that George Lucas thought that the movie name Return of the Jedi wasn’t a strong name and later thought to name it Revenge of the Jedi but others believed Jedi's don’t go for revenge so the title would be wrong.

And another story was Howard Kazanjian made up the title Revenge of the Jedi  to try and stop the huge amount of black market items that would come out before a movie is released. There are a few items that have the name Revenge of the Jedi instead of Return of the Jedi, especially Star Wars figures and they have become very rare and very valuable to collectors.

click picture for bigger version.

star wars iv R2D2 and lucas behind the scenes

This photo, behind the scenes during the making of Star Wars Episode IV (the best episode), shows George Lucas standing next to R2D2. I am not sure if it is RD-D2 or some other model. Maybe it is a R2-D2 prototype mock-up?

Cool Star Wars fun fact: Tauntaun is a cold -weather beast that resembles a fur covered lizard that walks on its back legs plus has curled horns. Belonging to the ice planet Hoth, these beasts are frequently found inside huge herds, rushing around the icy plains on their big, three-toed paws. They boast tough, coarse lips so as to let them to graze lichens plus moss off open rocks for food. This is not the only type of food they eat they sometimes eat small rat like creatures as well. At night they search for night-time shelter inside caves, because they are not able to stay alive in the tough night weather.

They had been used with the Alliance as a type of horse throughout their occupancy on Echo Base. The Tauntaun has a distinctive, arctic hardy blood that  makes it possible for it to stay alive on the Hoth landscape. There are a few varieties of Tauntaun on Hoth but they all possess the same distinctive blend of reptile and mammal qualities. The Tauntaun is the Wampa ice creatures preferential supply of food.